A Bit Not Good
by Chubby-Unicorn
Summary: Two days before the funeral of Sherlock Holmes, John Watson recieves a message that truely shocks him.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own anything. Enjoy!**

* * *

John startled when he heard the phone ring. It had been silent for the last few days and he didn't expect any calls before the funeral in two days. Lestrade, Molly and Mrs. Hudson had tried to spend time with him after Sherlock's fall but John had done his best to scare them off. He had just wanted silence.

With a sigh, he picked up the phone. A number he didn't recognize. "Watson?" he said, trying to block out the memory of Sherlock falling.

"Oh, thank god we have the right number!" came the reply. John wasn't able to utter a word in response, as the caller continued to talk. "John Watson right? My name is Martha Wilkins, you will probably not know me. But my daughter Sophia was together with you roughly 2 years ago..."

"Yes... Sophia. We met in Afgahnistan" John confirmed, slightly confused about the fact that he was recieving a call from his ex-girlfriend's mother. "Why are you calling then?"

"I must apologize that my husband and me are disturbing you now, but it is a difficult situation. Sophia never told you, I assume, but the reason why she was removed from Afgahnistan was because she was pregnant, from you. Sophia died two months ago and until now we have been looking after your son. But my husband and me are not young and we cannot take care for him any longer..." the woman continued until John interrupted her.

"My what? Is this some kind of prank someone is trying to play on me? Because this is not funny..." John started, sounding very aggravated.

"No, no! We are calling because we need your help.!" The woman replied, sounding very defensive and slightly despaired. "We found your name and number among Sophia's things. But we did not call until now. Sophia apparently never informed you what had happened and thought you wouldn't want to take any responsibility. At least that's what she wrote in her diary. But now that we can't take care of him anymore we had to take the chance and call. We were hoping you would meet us tomorrow, so that you can meet your son and maybe have him for a few days if you two get along."

While Martha kept talking, John tried to remember the last times he had talked with Sophia. They had been together only a few weeks in Afgahnistan. They had never talked about serious things, just built up phantasies what they would do with their lives after going back home. It had been a game, they knew those dreams had been just this, dreams. Like John actually making peace with his sister and her wife. An impossible feat, considered that she had had another relapse a few weeks ago. Or Sophia going to university and study art. They had never talked about a shared future after the army, simply because they hadn't been ready for something like that back then. But what on earth could have made her leave without bothering to tell him that she was pregnant from him? Did he really seem that heartless in her eyes? This thought hurt him more than anything else...

He tried to calm himself before replying to the anicious woman on the phone.

"I don't know why she never told me," John answered, sounding defeated, "I don't even know where she got the idea from, that I would not care. Maybe because we never talked about the future at the army but I really don't know. But... what happened to Sophia? I'm sorry I didn't ask before but this is quite a shock... And what about my son?"

"I can imagine John, don't worry we are not mad at you. And we are not blind to the news about your friend either, "Martha answered in a voice that seem cautious. "That is why we initially did not want to call, we did not want you to think we want to take advantage of your fame, or disturb you after you lost a friend. Sophia was involved in a car accident a little over 2 months ago. Gideon, your son, was at our house so he was unharmed, but they were not able save Sophia. If you want to see him and meet us, why don't you come to our house tomorrow at around three? If you two get along nicely, we could pack together some things so that you can try and see how it is to live with a child. We don't expect you to take him forever right away, but we are not healthy enough to take care of him for much longer and it would be the best if you could at some time live with him."

After this, Martha gave John the adress and a short description of the way to their house, apparently a calm neighbourhood in a suburb of London.

Just when Martha had hung up the phone, John sighed and sat onto the couch. This was a bit not good...


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Enjoy :)

Please note that I am a non-english writer, so please feel free to point me out any mistakes you see.

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John sighed as he got out of the cab the next day. Like he had remembered, Sophia's parents were living in a nice calm neighbourhood. Apparently they own a small house with a little garden and yard. An ideal place for a child.

Probably he should have bought a present for the people he was going to meet, but after he had received the call the other day, John hadn't done much aside of pacing in the living-room of 221B trying to figure out why the bloody hell Sophia had never considered talking to him. Oh he had also tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he had a child and that his temporary guardians wanted him to take said child home, but it had been no good: whenever he came to this point he always asked himself what he had done to Sophia to make her so distrustful.

A little nervous, John knocked at the door and was greeted by an elderly man, maybe around 65 years of age. It was apparent that he was pale and gaunt, and that his wife had not been lying when she said that she and her husband did not feel capable of caring for a child much longer. Nevertheless, he tried to smile welcoming at John and motioned for him to step inside.

"Come on in John. I'm Joseph, Martha is just waking up Gideon from his nap, she'll join us soon" he said, and led John through a nicely furnished house. Everything was neat and tidy and even though the owners did not seem wealthy they took great care of their possessions. As they passed the hall, John noticed some photos of Sophia with a baby on a small shelf, but they went past so he was not able to have a closer look at them.

"Have a seat, don't worry we won't bite!" Joseph said and invited John to sit on the couch.

"I'm sorry you lost Sophia... I had no idea about her... and Gideon or I would have taken my responsibility much earlier. But I can assure you that I will do anything possible now!" John said, trying to apologize to the father for the loss of his child, but also trying to explain that he would have been there for Sophia and the child had he known about it.

Joseph nodded slowly, apparently he was not yet sure if he should believe John or not but the way he had agreed right away to meet them had worked greatly in the doctor's favor.

"Thanks son. Look I don't know why she never told you, and I don't know what was between you. Sophia is gone and we will probably never know. My wife has told you, that we need help, and it was no easy thing to call a stranger. We decided to try it, and you have the chance to prove yourself..." Joseph said with an earnest tone, making a pause before he continued, "we found a picture of you and Sophia in her belongings, so we were able to show it to Gideon. He knows how his father looks like and he knows he will be meeting you. If everything goes well, we have some of his things packed in bags so you could take him for a few days and try how you get along with him."

Relieved, John nodded at the older man. At least he was not being condemned by Sophia's parents for not being here before. Just as John was about to answer, Martha entered with Gideon on her arms. Seeing the baby was the next shock for John: the maybe 16 month old toddler looked a lot like his mother with pale skin, curly dark hair and the light blue eyes. Something he apparently also shared with Martha. And not only those two, as John noticed with an inward groan.

"Look baby, your daddy!" Martha said softly to the baby, motioning towards John who was staring at his son.

"Da!" the toddler replied, leaning onto his grandma, while holding a hand out to John. Apparently he did recognise him on the spot.

"Here John, best you try to hold him." Martha said and sat Gideon into John's lap. Luckily Gideon didn't seem very shy looked up at John, more curious than upset over the sudden change of position. Carefully John put his arms around his son, who had started to settle a bit in his lap and tried to smile at the boy. Instantly the child reacted and returned the smile with another "Da!" before he leaned back again.

"Well it looks like he does like you! Good thing we found this picture among Sophia's things so that we could prepare him for meeting you!" Martha said, apparently pleased about the fact, that Gideon accepted John without any bigger problems.

"We have already let him stay at his aunt's house, but Emilia has four own children and she cannot take Gideon permanently. But he is normally not fussy about staying at another house. You live alone now right John?" She asked.

"Yes, I live in a flat in the middle of London but there is plenty of room." John replied, his voice sounding a bit rough as his thoughts wandered from the boy in his lap to Sherlock again.

"That is good! Uhm John we will prepare some tea and leave you and Gideon so that you have some time for yourself. If you need anything we will be in the kitchen, just call!"

John nodded and focused on his little son again, while the elder couple left the room.

* * *

"So what do you think?" Martha asked Joseph, as they rummaged around in the kitchen.

"Hard to say yet, but we should give him a chance. It didn't seem he wanted to run from taking responsibility. I don't think Sophia and him were in love very long, but we can't blame him for that. He seems a bit guarded, but with what was on the news about this friend of his? Do you think him and this fraud guy were...a couple? People talk..."

"Oh Joe! They do little else. He sounds nice and I think he will be able to get used to Gideon. I think he should have the chance to get to know his son.

* * *

Meanwhile John let Gideon, who had started to squirm around in his arms, stand up in his lap. John had no experience with toddlers, unless of course one counted the classes from Dr. Hart, the paediatrician at St. Barts, who had lectured on the basic handling of sick children. He didn't remember a lot, only that Gideon, being roughly 16 months old now, should be able to stand and walk and use a few basic words. Carefully he supported the toddler, who was a bit unsteady on the uneven ground and smiled at the boy. Immediately Gideon reacted and smiled back like he had done earlier.

"Da!" he said, touching John's nose, before he leaned against the doctor.

Relieved, John noticed that Gideon was rather relaxed around him. He looked around the room to find something to entertain his son. Luckily Joseph and Martha had some toys in the room. Holding Gideon in one arm, he got up and took a blue plush dino from a box with toys and settled back into his chair with Gideon and started to play with him until Martha and Joseph joined them again with the tea.


End file.
